


Remembering Sunday

by Reichan12



Category: heysayjump
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:55:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21936343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reichan12/pseuds/Reichan12
Summary: “I'll find you, Kei. It may not be today, but I promise to find you soon.” Takaki caresses the ring one last time, closing the box and replacing it back on the nightstand carefully.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: JUMPing Fic Carnival 2019





	Remembering Sunday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [incandescence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/incandescence/gifts).



Kei cups his mouth with his hands, tears uncontrollably flowing from his eyes. He can’t believe what he is seeing right now: this handsome man kneeling in front of him, holding out a red velvet box with a silver ring inside.

“Will you marry me?” Takaki asks.

“Yes,” Kei confidently answers.

Takaki stands up then, taking the ring from the box and sliding it onto Kei’s finger.

Still in shock, Kei stares at his hand for a long while. Things were taking some time to sink in. Here he was, the man of his dreams having just asked for his hand in marriage. Overwhelmed by the situation, he tears up once again.

Grinning from ear to ear, Takaki moves closer, hugging him tightly.

“I’m glad you accepted my proposal,” Takaki whispers, suddenly lifting Kei and carrying him bridal-style. “You don’t know how happy you’ve made me today.”

“You’re not the only one.” Surprised, but still basking in the happiness, Kei can’t stop the giggle from slipping past as Takaki gives his lips a light peck.

‘It's time to wake up, the time is 4:00 a.m.’

The small crowd around them cheers as the newly engaged couple share their first kiss. Both of them couldn’t be any happier.

‘It's time to wake up, the time is 4:01 a.m.’

Takaki groggily opens his eyes, searching for his phone and turning off the alarm. He glances at the nightstand, the precious red velvet box that he bought while on vacation in Taiwan innocently sitting there. He reaches for it and carefully flips it open, the silver braided ring still securely inside, just like before he had fallen asleep. Takaki smiles, soft and a little sad, remembering Kei's preferences when it comes to wedding jewelry.

He had never liked flashy diamond rings. Rather, he preferred a simple-looking silver ring that would greatly complement his light complexion.

“I'll find you, Kei. It may not be today, but I promise to find you soon.” Takaki caresses the ring one last time, closing the box and replacing it back on the nightstand carefully. He gets up from bed and takes his time to prepare something simple to eat. The silence lingers as he reminisces early mornings like these, when Kei would prepare his favourite tamagoyaki and tonkatsu for breakfast.

Takaki momentarily places his chopsticks on the side of his plate. A sigh escapes at the bittersweet memory, but the day approaches, and he can’t dwell on the sadness for too long or he’ll never get anything done. After washing the dishes, he showers and gets ready to go outside.

Today, he opts for a dark green, long-sleeved plaid flannel, a pair of black skinny jeans, and his battered, black, low-cut Converse, finishing off the look with a black leather jacket. Checking his appearance one last time in the mirror, he combs his hair to the side. With nothing left to distract him, Takaki grabs his keys, phone, ring case, and flyers, and heads out of his apartment.

At 6:30 in the morning, it is still quite chilly outside. The autumn wind blows hard, amber leaves dancing to its tune. Takaki rubs his hands together, hoping to get a little bit of warmth. As he walks down the street, he absently wonders why the streets are still empty at this time. A quick check from his phone calendar confirms that today is Sunday.

He takes a deep breath, shoves his phone back into his pocket, and goes on with his day. His routine starts out mostly the same: by handing out flyers to anyone he sees on the street, together with the words, “please, if you see this person, kindly contact this phone number immediately”.

There are a couple of nods and side glances in response. It is tiring work, and he feels desperate most of the time, but he never allows himself to lose hope. Today, a stranger walks up to him, asking if he has already reported this to the police.

“I already did, but their answers are always disappointing.” Takai doesn’t want to divulge much information, but sometimes he can’t help but vent. “They shouldn’t give up on finding Kei, I know he's still out there somewhere. Maybe he just needs some time alone, maybe he’s in his apart--‘ 

Takaki is immediately cut off as the stranger gives him a questioning look before walking away. He sighs, shrugging off the stranger's demeanor towards him and resuming his search for Kei. He folds his last sheet of flyer for today and shoves it in his back pocket.

It is 7:45 in the morning when he reaches Kei's apartment building. It is old and run-down, and Kei lives on the fifth floor, so Takaki has to climb up the stairs for a couple of minutes. Reaching Kei's apartment door, Takaki hesitantly knocks.

“Kei, are you there?”

Nobody answers. He knocks one more time, and is still met with no response. He tries twisting the doorknob, only to find that it is locked. He starts knocking at the door frantically, desperately calling out Kei's name.

“Kei! Kei, are you in there? Please open the door, Kei.” Unable to calm down, Takaki pounds on the door, trying to force it open.

’Why isn’t Kei answering? Isn’t he back yet? Is he alright? Is he inside his apartment?’ The thoughts swirl in Takaki’s mind.

He tries the doorknob again.

“Kei, open up, please. I know you’re there.”

The door from a nearby apartment flies open and a woman in her 40’s emerges. She stares at him for a while, before seemingly making a decision to calm Takaki down.

“How should I say this?” She leads him to a nearby chair. "This is your fourth time coming back, right? I understand that you are still in a state of shock because of what happened to Inoo-san, but--”

Takaki abruptly stands up, unable to accept the implication behind her words. He heads towards Kei's door and resumes his knocking. He's tired of hearing the same thing over and over again.

“Mister, please stop pounding on Inoo-san's door, or else I'll call the police!”

“Why won’t you open the damn door, Kei? Kei!”

“You again?” a man--in his late 30s, from the unit across Kei’s--suddenly butts in, grabbing Takaki by his collar. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop pounding on that door, you're disturbing the people around here!”

He throws Takaki to the ground and continues his sermon.

“This is your fourth time coming here, you're lucky I haven’t turned you over to the police. Now get out of this apartment before I decide that’s not such a bad idea, after all.”

“But I just want to--”

“Get out!”

Takaki flinches, trying to steel his nerves. “Sir, please, I'm begging you--”

And with that, the man grabs Takaki 's shoulder and leads him outside of the apartment building. Takaki struggles for freedom, but the man’s grip is too strong.

The man effectively throws him out, his body colliding with the rough asphalt. Takaki feels a sharp stab of pain on his shoulder with the impact of his fall. Kei’s neighbor curses him one more time and heading inside.

Takaki can only lean against a nearby wall, massaging his shoulder in order to soothe the pain. He looks up at the sky, the gloomy weather with its dark and heavy clouds further dampening his mood.

‘No wonder it’s extra chilly today.’ Takaki is still lost in his thoughts when someone crashes into him.

“Yuya?” the man says, and Takaki lifts his head to see Keito.

He has to do a double-take. Keito never comes over unless it’s to get things from Kei's apartment, which means...

“Keito,” Takaki starts to say, stopping himself midway so he can stop sounding hysterical. It fails, anyway. “Oh god, Keito, please help me.”

“Yuya,” Keito answers. He’s met with much resistance, Takaki grabbing onto his shirt and going off about Kei. Again.

It breaks Keito’s heart.

‘Not again.’

“Yuya,” Keito tries again, voice higher this time. He holds on to Takaki’s arms, and he doesn’t know if it’s for comfort or stability or to tether them both to reality. “Yuya, please listen to me. Kei is dead, he died four weeks ago.”

That freezes Takaki, but only for a moment.

“What are you saying?” Takaki’s voice is rising, quickly, and he’s struggling to get out of Keito’s hold. “No, he's not! You wait, Keito, I'll find your cousin, so please help me—”

He is cut off by Keito shaking him by the shoulders.

“Wake up! He’s dead.” Keito heaves, tears starting to form in his eyes. Damn it, he said he wouldn’t cry. “Kei is gone, Yuya, stop searching for him.”

Takaki shakes his head in disagreement. “You are all the same, you keep on telling me he's dead, but I just know it. I know he's not! He's alive and I know it!”

He purses his lips, shivering uncontrollably at the thought of Kei being dead. He steadies himself, about to storm the apartment building again when he feels the impact of Keito’s closed fist on his face.

Takaki collapses on the rough asphalt once more.

“This is bullshit,” Keito exclaims, voice quivering with hurt. “Bullshit, Yuya, bullshit!”

Takaki stares at him in disbelief.

“Why would you—”

“Don't you dare play the victim here!” Keito shouts, finally overwhelmed by the pain, anger, and pity. His emotions flood his thoughts so much, he can’t even think straight. He momentarily looks away to hide the pain in his eyes.

“Please hear me out,” Takaki blurts out in a weak voice, kneeling in front of Keito, reaching out his hand.

“I don’t want to hear something from a murderer,” Keito lashes out at him. “For all we know, you’re the reason why Kei killed himself. I thought you loved him—”

“Wait, I—”

“—thought you'd never leave him, that you were the one who could save Kei from killing himself. We trusted you,” Keito full-on accuses, voice unable to hide his anger any longer. “His family, our family, we gave you our full blessing. But what did you do? You let him die!”

“That’s not true, please let me—”

Another punch lands on Takaki, this time on his diaphragm. The ring falls away from his jacket pocket, landing a few inches from Keito’s foot stance. Takaki gasps for air as the pressure of Keito's punch continues to spread through his abdomen. He coughs, and the thick, wet, metal tang of blood hits his tongue. He spits as the floor, head spinning. Keito is saying something, loudly, but Takaki’s ears are ringing, and he can’t make sense of whatever lecture he’s being served.

Keito picks up the velvet box, opening it. Upon seeing the ring, he immediately throws it back to Takaki.

“You think your stupid cheating ass could marry Kei? Go ahead, marry his corpse! You're free to do so.”

“I did not cheat on him.” Takaki reaches for Keito once again, a desperate plea for some understanding.

“Oh yeah? Then why did Kei do that to himself? Pure coincidence? You _know_ how fragile he is! A minor inconvenience would cause him to attempt suicide, but you didn’t care, you even took your mistress on a vacation in Taiwan.”

Keito kicks the hand reaching out for him.

“We’re all hurt because of Kei's loss, but you are to blame the most. You know him the best, and yet you did nothing to protect him. Now, stop playing games and face the consequences. This is real life! Kei's not here anymore, no matter how hard you search for him. He'll never come back. You’re not the only one grieving for his loss.”

And with that, Keito leaves.

Takaki feels so beaten up, emotionally and physically. He crawls towards a corner and leans his entire weight against the wall. Tears well up in his eyes, and he blinks furiously, willing them away, his efforts futile. He doesn’t know how it starts, but there is a single sob, and then he is full-on dry-heaving as he cries.

“Kei, I'm sorry,” is all he can muster. The sound of thunder rolling from the sky drowns his voice, the weather seemingly empathizing with his fate. Soon enough, droplets of water start to fall from the sky. Takaki closes his eyes as he feels them touch his skin. As the rain pours hard, Takaki stands up and heads towards the cemetery.

The view that greets him is the same as four weeks ago. It is autumn, and the trees have their red and amber leaves falling off of their branches, the graves dirty with scattered dried leaves and flowers. As he takes the path to Kei's grave, Takaki notices how gloomy the atmosphere of the cemetery is. No one's around except for him, probably because of the weather. The surroundings remain dark as the rain continues pouring hard. He visits Kei's grave, standing there for a couple of minutes, not minding the rain battering his body.

He prays for Kei's blessings and talks to his beloved spouse.

“You know what, Kei? Maybe I should just stop looking for you. Keito told me earlier about it, and he even punched me to drive his point home.” Takaki chuckles, empty. He stares at Kei's grave for a while, his tears mixing with the droplets of rain on his face. “But that doesn’t mean I stopped loving you, yeah? I never stopped, and I probably never will.”

Takaki places the last flyer that he's been keeping in his jacket on Kei's grave. Carefully, he balances the wedding ring that he's been keeping for a while on top of the flyer.

“I’m sorry, Kei. I left you angry at me that time.” Takaki sniffs. “I wasn’t cheating on you, and I should have understood your situation. For the last time, I'm sorry.”

He sits beside Kei's grave and accompanies him for a while. He knows Kei is in a good place now, smiling and watching over him. The last thing Takaki remembers is the feeling of giddiness taking over his body, something akin to warmth wrapped around his shoulders like a blanket.

“Goodbye, Yuya. I’m sorry I caused you too much pain. I'm sorry if up until now, you’re still searching for me.” The white figure tugs a stray hair on Takaki’s face.

“Kei, please take me with you. I don’t want to be alone,” Takaki replies, on the verge of losing consciousness.

The white figure simply smiles, hugging Takaki--who loses the last of his breath and collapses atop the cement grave.


End file.
